Review of “Enrique’s Journey: The True Story of a Boy Determined to Reunite with His Mother,” *edition adapted for young people, by Sonia Nazario, 2014. New York: Delacorte/Random House. Paperback.

For social workers and for educators alike!

How important this book is now—with the migrants—all of whom are homeless in Chicago and other destinations around the world! A great story and an important reminder of the power of the human spirit!

For social workers and for educators alike, this book tells of a dangerous and famous journey that is life-changing for the little boy who risks all to get to his mother’s side in the United States. The story is life-changing for those who read it also.

I was very happy to come across this young readers’ version of this book, giving the background of who Enrique is, his family, the mother who works in the United States, and the famous journey to the US to reunite. This story, which covers about five years of time, is an important one for understanding why people leave children in other countries to come to the US to work, what such distances can provoke in the human spirit, and the complex means of trying to legally reunite family members living on opposite sides of a major border.

This story deals with Enrique’s mother leaving him and three other children in Guatemala to come to the US and work. This move will allow her to make a great deal more than the money available in her own country.

It is only 12 years later that Maria breaks down and tells the woman she cleans house for about the four children in another land. A single mother with four kids and a husband who has run off with another woman, she must do whatever she can to support them. She tells the story as her employer listens.

Astonished, the employer embraces the story and makes it her mission not just to try to reunite the estranged family but also to get any and all legal charges dropped against the parents.

This book provides some explanations on why immigrants face great danger to come here, take on work, and try to move ahead despite missing family members, their home, and their way of life. The children and other family members in the other country are going through their own loss, confusion, and grief as they try to choke down the tears, study hard in school, work, and persevere as well as they can.

The book presents very clearly some of the most common problems felt on both sides of the border. The grief and the daily burden of being so far away from their kin are two sources of psychological stress that can show up in a myriad of ways—including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The separation is dramatic for children, and for their parents.

I discovered hints of PTSD among the 11 students I myself conducted for my dissertation on Generation 1.5 Mexican American students learning English in two different Illinois community colleges (2010).

This text is great for social workers, counselors, and street helpers who need to know more about migrants and other people who suffer from the memories of challenges and dangerous times. It is also good for helping understand how the “journey” to our current location can indeed be exhausting both physically and mentally.

This book by Nazario is full of great social sciences content, cross cultural issues, federal legal procedures, and other information good for use in units and lessons in the regular classroom, social studies classes, and course time in general for students to do the readings and prepare for class projects and discussions.

I recommend the book as a “first source social studies text” for students old enough to appreciate what is here. Teachers and parents can review the book to look at the usual language issues and other considerations used to evaluate and recommend or not recommend the book for the classroom.

The book can also be used as good professional development source for conversations among educators because of the content found here.

Yet another use is personal reading for educators, parents, and stakeholders who can benefit from getting a better handle on the causes and attractions of immigration to this country. I guess one of my jobs is to get people thinking about these kinds of books and the benefits for students.

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* ISBN-13: 978-0385743280, Reading age: 12-17 years.